Sunset into Night
by RoseTyler10
Summary: Mikasa has become extremely violently angry and no one can figure out why. One day everyone is at sparring practice and then they're trying to stop her from severely injuring one of the other trainees, which is when Levi steps in to try and figure out what's wrong. Only thing is, she's really not in the mood to talk. Not after what happened, or what will happen.


"Whoa, Mikasa, slow down!"

"You're going to break him!"

"Mikasa, stop!"

Everyone kept shouting at her to stop, to slow down, to go easy on him, but their words carried no meaning to her. She kept attacking, putting all her force into each blow and not caring whether or not she broke her opponent. Jean's eyes were widened in fear as he desperately sought to block each of her blows, but he wasn't quite fast enough and almost every attack landed.

Left, right, left again, a swift kick, she relentlessly attacked him even though they were just practice sparring. It was supposed to be a simple drill, however Mikasa seemed to just want to hurt the boy. Everyone knew something was off with the girl, she'd been more silent than usual and wouldn't meet anyone's eyes all morning. Eren and Armin had tried to get something out of her, but she simply went through the motions of eating breakfast and preparing for training, not saying anything.

Even now she said nothing, she only fought with seemingly no thought or purpose other than to hurt someone. The other trainees looked on in anger and worry, yet knew there was very little they could do; none of them were able to stop her, not even Eren. He was amazing at close-hand combat, but he couldn't match her speed.

They only knew of one person quick enough to stop her.

"Ackerman!"

At the sound of his voice, she immediately froze, allowing Jean the chance to fall back while the others rushed over to him to make sure he was alright.

Her steel grey eyes moved to find the owner of the commanding voice. He stood a few feet away, his arms crossed and anger flashing on his face.

"What do you think you are doing," Levi asked in a low, measured voice.

"Practicing, surely even you would know the meaning of the word," she spat back, much to the surprise of the other trainees. Mikasa was known to be more outspoken towards the captain, but they had never heard her address him with so much disrespect.

His icy blue eyes flashed and he uncrossed his arms as he walked closer towards her.

"Jaeger, Arlert, take Kirstein inside and make sure he isn't too badly damaged. Have Krista take a look at him," Levi ordered, not taking his eyes off of Mikasa. "Everyone else, you're done for the day. Go back inside and find something to clean."

The trainees did as they were told, scrambling to leave the scene as fast as possible once realizing that both Mikasa and Levi were pissed off. No one wanted to be left in the crossfire.

Once they were all gone, Levi moved to stand right in front of Mikasa, all pretense of being her superior gone. Anger gave way to frustration and confusion, and he tried to look her in the eyes.

"Mikasa, what-"

But he was cut off by a yell from her and then a punch to the stomach, momentarily stunning him. However, his body tensed up and was able to recover fast enough to dodge her next blow. He backed away and she leaped forward to hit him again, screaming.

"Stop it! What are you doing?!" Levi yelled, blocking every one of her hits. He didn't move to attack her, he stayed in the defensive position, utterly confused.

"You did this!" she yelled, continuously punching and kicking him with a ferocity he'd never seen before. Her face was twisted in rage and something else. Tears shined in her eyes and there, a hidden emotion dwelled, something he couldn't quite make out yet. Surprising, knowing how much time he spent staring into her eyes that there was something he was unsure how to read.

"What are you talking about," he yelled back, still dodging and backing away.

The sun was beginning to set, the blue sky streaked with shades of pink, purple, and orange. The wind teased the leaves of the trees and brushed over the green grass at their ankles. There was a time when he would have sat in some hidden part of the grounds under thick trees, staring up at the sky and wondering if it would be his last time seeing the painting above him. He would probably be accompanied by the same young woman fighting him now, though she would be silently staring at the world around her as well, just as lost in her thoughts as he was in his. However, that woman and the one currently lunging at him seemed like two separate beings altogether.

"It's your fault! You did this to me!"

"I don't understand, what is wrong?"

She simply screamed and kicked at him. Hard. Round and around they went, Mikasa screaming, kicking, and punching while Levi blocked and dodged every blow. Eventually, as darkness began to fall and he noticed her attacks losing their power, he decided enough was enough. He sidestepped her attack, caught her arm, and kicked her leg out from under her. Then, as the wind was knocked out of her, he jumped and pressed his knees into her sides and pinned her arms above her head.

"No! No, stop! Get off of me!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, thrashing and kicking under him.

"Stop this ridiculousness, Mikasa, and tell me what is wrong. Why were you so ruthless against Jean? Why have you been so quiet and distant these past few days? Why are you so angry?"

At that moment, she burst into tears. Water streamed down her face and sobs rocked through her chest, her breaths coming out in short spurts.

"I hate you!"

His eyes widened and he momentarily froze, the words she'd screamed echoing in his head. However, he'd frozen just long enough for her to knee him hard in the back and free one of her arms. From there it was easy for her to roll on top of him and start hitting him. At first he let her, his body numb to the pain as she punched his shoulders and slapped his face, again and again screaming those words.

Finally, he looked into her eyes and recognized the emotion that had resided in there from the moment he stepped onto the field with her: fear. Once he read it in her eyes, he grabbed her wrists to stop her from hitting him. She struggled to release them, but he gripped her hands tightly.

"What is wrong," he asked once more, his voice low and starting to shake.

"I hate you, I hate you, I ha-hate, y-y-you," she yelled over and over as she started sobbing again.

Ignoring the sting her words inflicted and continuing to grasp her wrists as she fought him, he asked again, "What. Is. Wrong?"

She stopped fighting him and dropped her eyes, letting her black hair hang over her face. "I-I'm pregnant," she cried.

He instantly became paralyzed and she freed herself from his hold, sliding off of him and wrapping her arms around her knees. She put her head down and started crying again, her shoulders shaking. Levi remained lying on the ground, staring up at the sky again.

The first of the stars could be seen.

After what seemed like hours, though honestly were just a few minutes, he spoke up in a gravelly voice. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure, asshole, I wouldn't be this upset if it were only a guess," she threw at him with nothing but venom on her tongue.

He continued staring up at the sky, now introducing shades of dark blue and black. Her anger and fear made sense to him now. How were they going to explain a child to the other members of the squad? To the commander? To all of society? Even if their case was different from other squads because of Eren, he was still her captain. There were rules, codes to follow, laws even. Sure they could hide it for a few months, but obviously that was a secret damn near impossible to keep. And how would humanity feel if one of their greatest soldiers was incapacitated for months because she and her commanding officer had an affair?

He winced at the thought of belittling their experience to a common affair, he wanted to believe it meant something more, but he knew what would happen once the word spread. Yes, her anger and fear made sense.

He heard her mumble something, but didn't quite catch her words.

"What was that you said," he asked her, slowly sitting up and resting his elbows on his legs.

She lifted her head and brushed her bangs out of her face. "I don't want to birth an orphan."

He paused and again realization hit him hard. Of course she wasn't afraid of what the others would think, she never cared for the opinions of others, it was the fact that their lives were not guaranteed. If she lived long enough to have the child, where was it written that she would live long enough to raise it? Given her past, it was only natural for her to fear for the life of her child, of her possible orphan. Mikasa Ackerman was one of humanity's strongest soldiers, but not even she could be expected to live a long life.

She continued crying and he sat there, knowing there was no use in lying and saying something like "it will be okay," they were both smarter than that. They were in a dangerous situation now, and neither of them were naïve enough to believe that the child was a blessing wrapped in the miracle of life.

"What are we going to do," she asked quietly, rubbing tears out of her eyes.

He sighed.

"I don't know."

Above, the sky turned completely black and the stars blinked as if the sky itself wept for them.


End file.
